Blind Boy and the Loon

This sculpture portrays the “Lumaaq legend” — the story is of a
mother who persecuted her blind son. Despite killing a hungry polar bear
with his bow and arrow to protect his mother and sister, she continued
to abuse him. She told him he had killed their dog, then abandoned him
in an old snow-house as she did not want to share any food with him.
His sister loved him and kept him alive by stealing meat to feed him.
The blind boy wanting to regain his sight meets a loon. The loon leads
him to water, tells him to dive deep into the lake and when he is about
to suffocate then the loon would bring him to the surface. The boy trusts
the loon and dives into the cold water. When the loon brought him to
the surface, the boy’s eyesight was restored and he continued to provide
food for his sister and mother again.

The boy was out hunting when he saw beluga whales. The boy plans
his revenge by asking his mother to help him hunt the whales by tying
the rope around her waist and bracing the rope to pull in the whale
together. He harpooned the whale but as they pulled the rope together,
he let go and she was pulled below the water and towed out to sea
crying “lumaa, lumaa, lumaa.”

Other available artwork you might like in Spirit Wrestler: Shaman, Sedna and Spirits:

Billy was born on July 7, 1978, in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. In his early years he travelled eastern Canada residing and schooling in Ottawa, Yarmouth and Halifax in Nova Scotia, then at the age of thirteen returned to live in Goose Bay. He now lives in North West River in Labrador and enjoys fishing and hunting on the land with his family.